News / Nigeria

Gunmen kill 12 in raid on military base in northwest Nigeria

Monday, 13 September 2021 11:12 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 13 September 2021 11:12 AM ]

A member of security forces stands guard outside a court in the northern city of Kaduna, Nigeria. (Photo by Reuters)

Gunmen have killed 12 Nigerian security forces in a raid on a military base in northwest Zamfara state, before stealing weapons and torching buildings.

The perpetrators of the Saturday attack in Mutumji still remain unidentified. However, telecommunications have been cut in Zamfara to prevent armed groups from communicating and planning further attacks, two security sources told AFP on Monday.

Furthermore, the army is engaged in several military operations against armed criminal gangs in Northwest Nigeria.

Criminal gangs known as bandits are blamed for a series of mass abductions in recent months.

At least 12 people were killed when several hundred members of a criminal gang on motorbikes stormed Duba village in Katsina state last month.

Such attacks have added to security challenges in Nigeria, which is struggling to contain insurgencies in the northern part of the country.

President Muhammadu Buhari has come under fire for the worsening security situation in several regions of Nigeria.

Nigerian troops are fighting a 12-year militancy by the Boko Haram terrorist group in the northeast, herder-farmer tensions and banditry in the northwest, and separatist agitations in the southeast.

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